🔹Principal’s Update

Dear Colleagues,

This week, I will hold two full Staff Meetings on Thursday, one at 08:30am and then a repeat session at 12:30 lunchtime. As usual, this is to accommodate as many colleagues as possible who may have teaching commitments during one of the slots. I look forward to seeing you there and providing an overview of our progress and continued areas of focus for the College.

On Friday, I attended my mandatory safeguarding training update for adults and young people. It was both interesting and engaging. However, I was disappointed to note that six staff members did not attend their training and failed to offer their apologies in advance. I kindly ask all colleagues to treat one another with respect. When mandatory training is scheduled, if you are unable to attend for a valid reason, please inform the Teaching and Learning department in advance.

Jess Tidswell, our Head of Marketing and Communications, has been diligently organising a filming schedule to produce creative and engaging content for our new website. Unfortunately, there have been issues with room timetabling. Please be reminded not to relocate your teaching session to another room simply because it appears available. This can create serious safeguarding issues—if a student or staff member needs to be located urgently, their assigned room must match the timetable.

Acknowledgments
Thank you to the following departments for their flexibility and prompt response to website filming requests:

• Animal Management & Childcare
• Culinary Arts
• Construction & Engineering
• Highlands Professional
• English & Maths
• Sport

Diary highlights

This week, I will be participating in invigilator training. Additionally, this afternoon, I am being interviewed by Amicus on Leadership Development. Tomorrow, I will meet with the Headteacher from Les Quennevais to discuss strengthening our collaboration, particularly in inclusion. I will also meet with the CEO of Brighter Futures to explore potential research opportunities with University College Jersey.

At this week’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT) meeting, we will conduct a deep dive into learner voice, reviewing our updated policy (October 2024) and the CYPES agreed participation standards for both children and young people. These standards include:

• Listening to learners
• Giving young people a right to choose
• Providing information and keeping them informed
• Ensuring their safety
• Respecting their views and ideas
• Involving them in decision-making
• Responding to their feedback

Finally, we are closely monitoring the budget, as we are currently £100,000 overspent against staffing cost projections for this year. Some of this is due to supply cover and the timing of invoices. Finance is on our agenda this week.

The SLT met with student groups in classes last week. They provided complimentary feedback. Students are concerned about parking and lack of spaces, which Rob Moy will follow up with the Estates Team here and Jersey Property Holdings. Please politely challenge users of our car park who do not display a HC green badge. The Oakfield development will mean Hautlieu School staff will lose 50% of parking. Their current student car park was ours, and we re-categorised it for their usage. If teachers move into that space, I can foresee Hautlieu 6th formers trying to relocate to here.

Best wishes

Jo